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Seven people sentenced over mob attack on Paris police car

A Paris court handed down sentences of up to seven years in jail, including part-suspended terms, to seven defendants accused of attacking a police patrol car stuck in traffic in May 2016, when two officers were punched and beaten with metal bars before their vehicle was set on fire on the sidelines of a demonstration by police against violence directed at them during street protests.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

A Paris judge on Wednesday handed down jail terms of up to seven years to protesters who attacked and set fire to a police car with two officers inside in what he described as an "urban guerrilla scene", reports FRANCE 24.

Swiss national Joachim Landwehr, who is on the run and was tried in absentia, was sentenced to seven years for throwing a smoke bomb into the car during the attack in May 2016.

Six others were also convicted for their part in the attack, which took place after a police demonstration against the violence directed at officers during anti-government protests.

Videos viewed hundreds of thousands of times on YouTube showed black-clad individuals, most with their faces covered, surrounding the squad car in traffic in central Paris.

One kicked in the window on the driver's side, and another hurled a smoke bomb into the vehicle, eventually causing it to burst into flames.

When driver Kevin Philippy emerged from the car, French protester Nicolas Fensch lunged at him and assaulted him with an iron bar.

Among those convicted was far-left activist Antonin Bernanos, 23, who was handed five years, which includes a two-year suspended sentence, for pummelling Philippy while he was still in the car.

"You attacked a policeman because he was a policeman," judge Alain Alcufrom told Bernanos.

One other foreigner in the trial besides Landwehr was US national Kara Brault, sentenced to four years with two suspended for taking an iron bar to the car.

Two defendants including Bernanos' younger brother were acquitted following the five-day trial in September.

The attack took place after the perpetrators broke away from a counter-demonstration against alleged police brutality, held metres from where officers were holding a rally against anti-police violence.

Read more of this AFP report published by FRANCE 24.